Disruption of Our Legacy
by Alethia II
Summary: The bartender, Lew if memory served her well, gave her a once over as if that would actually reveal to him whether she was legal to drink or not before following her drink order, glass with dark amber liquid set before her moments later. Grabbing her drink, she sidestepped the long faced barfly and leaned on the bar next to the cadet. 'The name is Jane.' Fem!Kirk
1. Chapter 1

AN: Got nothing to say but the fact I like genderbending. Don't like, don't read. Seriously, don't be an asshole.

* * *

She wasn't really sure what she was doing back here in Riverside. Her mother wasn't even in the same sector, little less dirtside yet she was in Riverside even though she promised herself not to come back here. There was nothing to go back to. Albeit someone might have pointed out that technically that statement only became true today, seven hours ago when her uncle Frank Davies was buried four feet into the ground. The vicious sliver in her heart just wanted to dump his body into waste disposal but he had been her mother's only remaining family member besides her two children so that was a no go.

Either way, the service was short and there were not many people attending. Not because Riverside had a small population but rather because Frank Davies had been a walking, talking stereotype of an asshole to its fullest. It was her honest belief that aside her mother, no one was going to miss him. She certainly wouldn't. Nevertheless she needed a drink or two just to dull her nerves. Of course, the only bar that had wider variety of drinks in Riverside happened to be the one close to the shipyard and therefore had steady influx of Starfleet members, mostly engineers assigned to the shipyard. Tonight however, because her bad day had to have become worse, the bar was teeming with cadets.

Some were newly signed up, picked up from all over the planet Earth and on their way to Starfleet Academy for the first time while some of them were on their way back to the Academy from short training cruises, the older ones that is. Most of them, much to her dismay, have proverbial stars in their eyes that usually accompanied the dreamy ideas of being out there in space, exploring and what not. Now there was nothing wrong with that per say, human curiosity brought them in contact with about equal amount of friendly and unfriendly alien species, the great exchange of technology and culture. The rules and somewhat edgy behavior of top brass of Starfleet that included heavy inclination of sweeping dirty secrets under the rug and not paying attention to seemingly unimportant details was entirely different thing.

It was downright infuriating and for her personally, did not give much reason to trust them. However, she was not above admitting that most Starfleet members were good natured people and very good in their professions. Still, progress and change were somewhat sluggish. Ignoring the cheerful, partially alcohol infused chatter around her, she went straight for the bar, ordering strongest whiskey on the rocks they had to offer. The bartender, Lew if memory served her well, gave her a once over as if that would actually reveal to him whether she was legal to drink or not before following her drink order, glass with dark amber liquid set before her moments later.

The liquid had smoky flavor to it, something she always appreciated with her favorite blood poison even though she did not indulge it often. Anymore that is. She was on her third round when pretty lithe thing of her age appeared at the old-fashioned bar and leaned forward to order her drink. Or seven as it turned out. "That is a lot of drinks for one woman."

The young cadet gave her a once over and she was entertained by the dismissive glint in her eyes which simply made her want to flirt further, if for no other purpose but to banish all the dark thoughts from her mind. "And a shot of Jack, straight up."

"Make it two – her shot's on me."

"Her shot's on her. Thanks but no thanks."

Maybe this day would not end on a dark note after all. "Hmm, I don't get a 'no' often."

"Really? Well then, it seems to be my duty to tell you that when I say 'no' it means no." Smile stretched her lips, she liked this one. "I'm not really trying to drag you to bed."

"You have a bad way of phrasing it then." The woman replied without a hint of an honest smile, her foot tapping as if that would make the drinks come any faster. "I'm really not but your dismissing behavior is quite entertaining. Besides I am not nearly drunk enough for any after midnight activities and you seem too wound up."

This time she got no reply. Grabbing her drink, she sidestepped the long faced barfly and leaned on the bar next to the cadet. "The name is Jane. What's yours?"

Silence. "If you don't tell me your name, I'll make up one for you and I can be very creative."

"Uhura."

"Hmm…How about first name?" Finally she got something else rather than fed up superiority. "Unless you prefer to be addressed by your last name which is fine by me. So, Uhura…You're a cadet, you're studying. What's your focus?"

"Xenolinguistics." Uhura replied without even looking at her for a moment. "You have no idea what that means." And dismissive superiority was back.

"Study of alien languages: phonology, morphology, syntax, variability in different mediums of aural conveyance, symbology and so on." Jane took a short sip of her whiskey. "Means you got a talented tongue."

"I'm impressed. For a moment there I thought you were just a dumb country girl who only has sex with farm animals."

Jane almost broke into full blown laughter. It has been a while since she met someone who could verbally spar with her without resorting to curses and not well thought through arguments. "toH, wej neH (Well, not only),H." Eyes went wide with surprise and Uhura finally laughed. "You really don't look like you set one foot out of this town."

"Oh I set my foot out of this town a very long time ago. Today was…exception."

Uhura blinked a bit at sudden dark tone in the voice of her interlocutor. "So where did you learn Klingonese?"

"Around." Jane replied mysteriously, the playful twinkle in her eyes returning. "And you don't seem to be the type to hang around all of this." She aimlessly motioned to the rest of the bar where most cadets were well on the way to alcohol induced oblivion.

Uhura did not get to respond since a large shadow cast by a bearded cadet who was larger than both women put together and Jane's mood immediately soured before he even had a chance to open his mouth. "This townie bothering you?"

"No and if she were, it's nothing I couldn't handle." Uhura replied dismissively before turning to get her drinks that were finally served. She downed the shot of Jack and moved away from the bar with the rest of her drinks.

Feeling still playful enough, Jane shot cadet Uhura a somewhat flirty wink which made the woman smile before reaching for her whiskey glass. Naturally the burly cadet caught the gesture and for some reason got riled up. "Hey. Mind your manners."

Leaning her weight on the bar, Jane looked slightly up so she could see his face. "Relax cupcake. I didn't touch her or say anything real bad. Unless you're jealous that I didn't wink at you?"

Silence started to fall over the bar as the not really a confrontation started to take the spotlight. Cupcake was still steaming over the last comment. "What was that?"

"Do you have hearing problems?" Jane asked bored, whiskey sloshing around in the glass she was slightly shaking side to side. By now, the cadet's cohorts gathered around him and the rest seemed to be paying rapt attention.

Well, her day was shitty anyway she might as well finish it with a bar fight. It has been a while since she beat the ever living daylights out of idiots. "Maybe you can't count farm girl, but there's five of us and one of you."

"Then go get some more and we'll be even." She waved her hand dismissively but the man didn't respond. "Been wondering though. Do they beam those uniforms on you? 'Cause they are so form fitting and…"

Predictable as the sunrise, Cupcake swung. Though he was somewhat faster than she expected, the move was avoided and in three seconds flat he was in a tight chokehold. "Please tell me you haven't had combat training yet 'cause that would be embarrassing to Starfleet. That would be punch was adorable."

His friends did not seem to like the idea of a local blonde girlie making an idiot out of their friends and moved to help which prompted her to knock Cupcake out cold. It took two seconds for all out brawl to break out, unfair one at that if one counted the opposite participants. People moved out of the way yet did nothing to stop it, partially entranced to see a young woman beating by now five Starfleet cadets bar still unconscious Cupcake in a really brutal though surgical manner.

Jane did not pass unscathed, in fact her busted lip was not grateful for the fight nor her right part of her rib cage but by the time she had the last man standing on the table and punching ever loving shit out of him, she was in far better condition than the rest of them. She was well on the way to smash the cadet's face in when a shrill whistle calling to attention had her freeze in movement and forced her to look up.

At the entrance stood a man in his fifties, wearing dark grey uniform and looked completely unimpressed and annoyed with the entire scene. "Outside, all of you. _Now!_ "

The crowd disappeared from the bar at the speed of wrap five at least, leaving only civilians behind. As the adrenaline rush suddenly left her body, Jane felt flashing pain in her fists though considering the size and mass of her opponents, this was not a surprising thing. "You alright miss?" The new arrival asked part curious, part concerned with something of a contemplative glint in his eyes.

Just that put her on alert again. "Spectacular." She replied before turning to the bartender. "Get me another round when I return from the bathroom." He gave her a withering look but buzzed around to get her drinking order nevertheless she picked up0 five minutes later after cleaning up some of the dripping blood from her busted lip and cut on the left cheek.

"You're still here Starfleet?" Jane short stopped at the sight of the Starfleet officer sitting in a laid back manner, still studying her with way too much curiosity she found healthy. "You need my statement or something? Who are you anyway?"

"Captain Christopher Pike." Wry smile stretched his lips. "I swear I am looking at you and I am staring right at him."

Jane almost bit her tongue to blood as her anger bubbled up at warp speed. Yet another George Kirk fan and she thought she had managed to shake them all off. A resigned sigh escaped her lips as she muted out him babbling about dissertations and what nots of famed Kirk family history that George Kirk made and sipped her whiskey. "He didn't believe in no-win scenarios."

That got captain Pike a derisive snort. "He sure did learn his lesson."

"Well, that depends on how you define winning. You're here, aren't you?" Pike shot back, not affected by the acidic sarcasm. "You know, that instinct to leap without looking, that was his nature too. In my opinion, something's Starfleet lost."

"And you are telling me this because…?"

"I re-checked your file while you were taking care of that lip. Your aptitude tests are off the charts so what is it? You like being the only genius level repeat offender in the Midwest?"

"Maybe I love it." Jane sneered, she was getting tired and just wanted the day to end already by now.

"Look, so your dad dies, you can settle for less than ordinary life. Or do you feel like you're meant for something better? Something special." Pike gave a little pause. "Enlist in Starfleet."

For a moment, she thought she heard him wrong. "Enlist?" She chocked a bit on her drink. "You guys must _way_ down on your recruiting quota for the month."

"If you are half a person your father was Jane, Starfleet could use you." The blank look she gave him forced him to switch tactics. Obviously, nostalgia wasn't working. If anything, it made her apathetic or angry. "You could be an officer in four year, have your own ship in eight. You understand what the Federation is, don't you? It's important. It's a peace keeping and humanitarian armada."

"We done?" Jane finally snapped, any kind of minute patience gone.

Pike just stared at her for a long moment before setting his glass down. "I'm done." The chair legs scrapped the floor as he got up. "Riverside Shipyard. Shuttle for new recruits leaves tomorrow 0800."

Her hand made a sluggish motion of waving him off. There was a bit of hesitation in him before he spoke again. "Your father was a captain of a starship for twelve minutes. He saved eight hundred lives, including your mother's and yours. I dare you to do better."

A mocking salute was all he got from her in return and decided that they were truly done. If he said anything else, she might continue the bar fight with him as the main punching bag. And judging by two unconscious cadets and others with seriously bloody noses and somewhat wrong angled hands, she was force to be dealt with. He was good but not that good. With one last look at the graceful face framed by short, choppy golden hair he turned on his heels and left the bar. Hopefully his gambling dare would make her move.

Come morning, Jane was not really sure what her mother's reaction would be once she contacted her from San Francisco. Damn that man for challenging her. Educated or lucky guess on his side, Jane never backed from a challenge. She's been doing those since the day she was born. It was a day she detested and liked to get completely smashed, preferably with the strongest alcoholic drink she could find.

She spent most of the night sobering up in the fresh air by staring at the half finished Constitution class starship that was named Enterprise. For some unknown reason, it called to her. This made little sense to her because it was hardly the first starship she had seen or actually been on. Yet, the mysterious charm remained. She cursed captain Pike several times before her mind was really made up and once she finished her early breakfast, Jane made way to the shipyard. It was easy to pass security, Jane noted and filed away to make a mention to Pike at some later date.

"Nice ride." A passing worker noted and without looking, Jane threw her keys into his hard hat. "It's yours." Her best winning smirk stretched her lips as she walked to and around clearly but pleasantly surprised Pike. "Four years? I'll do it in three."

"I have no doubt." Pike murmured as she climbed into the shuttle.

He just hoped he could keep her busy. People like her tended to get easily bored with standard curriculum. Looking around, Jane allowed an easy smile to stretch across her lips and did not pay extra attention to the bulkhead with stamp 'CAUTION LOW CEILING' so naturally she banged her head quite forcefully on it. Waiting a moment for her head to clear up, she moved around to find an empty seat, passing by the five of the cadets from last night, all of whom were sporting nice shiners and one was wearing a wrist brace. Unable to help herself, she gave them mock salute in the passing. "At ease, gentlemen."

Her spirits went further up when she saw her flirting target sitting not four feet from her. "Never did get that first name." Uhura was partially successful in suppressing a grin. "And you never will."

"Challenge accepted."

Jane tugged on the harnesses to strap herself in when commotion from the back interrupted her. A clearly agitated, older gentleman was forced out of bathroom. By her estimate he was around thirty and the lengthy list of complaints his mouth was firing put his place of origin in American Southeast, Georgia if Jane would be asked.

"I told you people, I don't need a doctor. I am a doctor."

"You need to get back to your seat."

"I had one in the bathroom with no windows." The protestor vociferously stated, trying to wrench himself out firm grip the academy officer had on him. Jane could tell the woman dealt with worse problems than the current one. "You need to get back to your seat, now!"

"I suffer from aviophobia. It means fear of dying in something that flies."

"Sir, for your own safety, sit down or else I'll make you sit down." There was a short glaring contest before the man acceded. "Fine."

"Thank you." Just after she departed, Pike's voice could be heard over intercom. "This is Captain Pike. We've been cleared for takeoff."

"I may throw up on you." Oddly enough, this was not the strangest thing someone said to her upon meeting her for the first time. "I think these things are pretty safe. Also it would not be the first time." Jane replied calmly, tapping the armrest.

"Don't pander to me, kid. One tiny crack in the hull, and our blood boils in thirteen seconds. A solar flare might pop up and cook us in our seats. And wait 'til your sitting pretty with a case of Andorian shingles. See if you're still so relaxed when your eyeballs are bleeding. Space is disease and danger after darkness and silence." Jane's jaw almost dropped in amazement at the speed and detail of the man's speech.

Obviously he wasn't an idiot like the rest of starry eyed cadets here and definitely was not a sweet talker. At least not with general population. Maybe they could be friends. "Well, I hate to break this to you, but Starfleet operates in space."

"Yeah, well, got nowhere else to go but up. The ex-wife took the whole damn planet in the divorce. All I've got left is my bones." As he was saying that, he withdrew a flask from his jacket's inner pocket he handed her after taking a sip.

"Jane Kirk." Her peripheral vision caught good number of cadets reacting with total shock upon hearing her name, recognizing it now that the alcohol was out of their blood system but she paid no attention to them and handed the flash back after taking a sip. The doctor knew his poisons well.

"McCoy, Leonard McCoy." The shuttle rocked a bit as it rose to its determined altitude and then swerved into the direction of San Francisco, making the doctor flinch a bit which told Jane that he was dead serious about aviophobia. "So, Bones, are you from Georgia?"

"Bones? What the hell kid?" The doctor all but growled at her.

"Well, all you got left are your bones. Besides, didn't they used to call army doctors back in Civil War sawbones? Fits you perfectly."

He was looking at her like she was crazy, not that he was far off, and his eyes narrowed. "You're not gonna drop it even if I asked nicely."

"Nope." Jane grinned.

"Damn it." One of his eyebrows quirked when he properly took in her face. "What happened there?" One hand already rose to inspect damage, his doctor's instinct kicking in.

"The five bravehearts over there." She leaned backwards to her right, and his eyes widened upon seeing the bruises, definitely two broken noses and wrist brace. "Good God kid, they're twice your size."

"Yes but they certainly lack in IQ department. Or at the very least, they were never told not to judge a book by its cover."

That finally got him to smile. "Sounds about right. Anything besides that busted lip and cut?"

"Obviously bruised knuckles." She showcased her hands for inspection. "And maybe a bruised rib or two. Like I said, they misjudged their chances."

"Clearly." The shuttle shook a bit when it landed with a loud 'thug'. "We're there already?"

Jane smiled at his incredulity. "Time flies in good company, no?" She followed the question with a wink and unbuckled her harnesses.

"Unbelievable." Bones grumbled but it did not carry any really ire. "No throwing up then?"

"You're a smartass."

"Like you wouldn't believe it. Come on, we should disembark."

After being called out and sorted by either being new or returning cadets, they were assigned to academy officers who then sent them to their allocated dorm rooms within specified halls. Naturally, Jane did not make more than two steps towards the Academy before Pike appeared at her side. "You're coming with me to get your 'papers' sorted." Only then he noticed Bones. "Ah, doctor McCoy. I trust the flight wasn't too traumatic?"

Bones snorted. "Smartass here kept my mind off of it."

"Really? See Kirk, you're a good influence." Jane snorted. "You wish."

"Well, doctor you can make your way to your dorm room. I'm pretty sure that even if you don't want to see Kirk again, she'll find you."

The doctor rolled his eyes and muttered something under his breath before leaving. "That was not nice." Jane remarked.

"Somehow I doubt that hurt your feelings." Pike started to move in slightly different direction. Good number of people stared at her when they passed the duo. "Sit." He commanded once they got into his office.

"Do you have a spare PADD?"

Pike rolled his eyes as he sat down. "I'd rather you not hack anything before I even enrolled you properly."

"Very funny, sir. Even if I hacked something right now, you wouldn't know about it." Jane smirked. "So you have a spare PADD or not?"

He retrieved one and handed it to her as he busied himself by pulling up her personal file and creating a new one for Starfleet. "What did I say about hacking?" Pike shot her an annoyed look.

"Relax, captain, I am simply unlocking part of my file. I'm pretty sure you can guess why I keep it as vague as possible."

He nodded and waited to see which one of the blanks in her private file would be shown. If he didn't have his clearance and authority, he would simply be able to see her basic information and what school she finished. And that was it. Not even an address. One of the fields came alive and Christopher Pike had to use every bit of his hard earned experience to keep his jaw from hitting the floor. "Kirk…"

"Don't." Jane bit out. "I am not showing it to you because I want pity or something special. Just so you know I'll be skipping those classes. Because I absolutely have no desire to either speak about it, though I am sure the lectures are laced with pretty much general knowledge only, or have some sort of debate. I'd sooner shoot myself than talk about it in public."

"Is there anyone else who knows about this?"

"Maybe four people altogether have access to the files, obscure as they are about the whole matter since it was a clusterfuck of a situation. And no, I don't want to talk about it. Ever."

Pike frowned but knew better than to counter her or to try to poke the subject. So he nodded and continued his work in silence. Strangely, he found it very unnerving and it took a good hour after she left for the letters he read to finally sink in. And he immediately reached for the bottle in his desk he rarely broke out and technically should not be even opening it considering he was on duty and it was only nine in the morning. But damn it, he needed it and as he drank the dark colored liquid, prayed he could make a schedule for her that would keep her busy but not exhausted. People like her, rare as they were, tended to get bored quickly with the standard curriculum. One thing was certain. Life was about to get a lot more interesting.


	2. Chapter 2

"Whatcha doing Bones?"

The good old country doctor as he liked to call himself fought the urge to snort with annoyance but did roll his eyes the moment first note of her strangely soothing voice reached his ears. He had given up on getting the young woman to stop calling him Bones almost immediately after their paths crossed again, during first classes of basic hand-to-hand combat all freshman cadets were required to take. Quite truthfully, it started growing on him even though he would not admit that to her out loud.

He was still figuring out why she picked him off all the people on the shuttle to be friends with. Usually when someone tells you they might throw upon you, you try to get as far away from them; not share in a drink and then stay until the shuttle is completely empty and help them out. But she did.

From their meeting on the shuttle, she was constantly pestering him; her presence was curious, annoying and bright. She was a puzzle, that one. With her name, he didn't expect some average, run-of-the-mill woman. She was a certified genius, perhaps too much so for a human but also quite arrogant at times and childlike. The maverick personality however he felt was only layer in role of protection.

Sometimes he would catch brief glimpse of her flinches when name of her father came up so he did his best not to bring her father into their conversations. Obviously it bothered her greatly to be reminded that her father was dead so she could live. That alone must have been helluva character developing element right there. He doubted he would ever be able to tolerate and stay semi normal in the grand shadow of his father like she did.

So here they were, in the library where he was hoping to find some peace and quiet to study for his upcoming advanced anatomy exam but with her all but appearing out of nowhere and munching on one of those damn apples meant he would get nothing done until she says her part. He still needed to figure out what the deal with apples was.

"Well, I was going to study advanced anatomy but now that you are here…"

"Come on, Bones, you make it sound like I'm some sort of plague."

"Sometimes you act like one."

"I'm hurt." She put her hand to the heart with mock hurt on her face. "I was going to ask you if you want to tag along for the party tonight but obviously I will get a 'no'."

"Damn right, kid, not all of us super genius packed in their brain cells."

"I think differently Bones, that's all."

It was one other thing that worried him. She had no self-value and always downplayed her intellectual achievements. Though she always had the upper hand and experienced utter pleasure upon her opponent's realization that they underestimated her, it made him occasionally wonder why that was so. For a chatter, she was very short coming about her past.

"Uh-huh…So now that we solved your dilemma of me coming or not, scram. I need to study."

"Okay."

The according was way too easy and just a second later to prove him just that, she yanked the PADD from his hands, elevated her feet to window ledge and leaned into the chair.

"Jane…" He spoke with elevating annoyance in his tone, having half idea to smack her on the head for being a nuisance.

"Describe the Vulcan circulatory system." She spoke in best, faculty wise serious voice she could come up with.

"What are you doing?"

"Helping you study. Isn't this exam like super important?"

"Yes."

"There you go then. So, Vulcan circulatory system?"

"Don't you have a party to go to?"

She shrugged, not looking up from the PADD. "Plenty of parties to go to Bones, we are here for four years. Well, I will be here for three."

"You're bit too cocky for your own good, kid." He swiped his hand over his face but relented to the fact that she was not going to budge.

"Nothing I haven't heard before. So come on, start talking doctor. Besides…I might learn something too."

"Don't you have your own studying to do?"

"Nah, I passed the basic tactical analysis and I have hand-to-hand tomorrow eleven. Can't wait to bruise some egos. Especially that asshole Finnegan."

"Let's hope he doesn't bruise your ego instead."

"Impossible. He may be hell bent on tormenting me, some of his pranks are even praiseworthy but his hand to hand is very poor. Bastard knows how to use his fists but not his brain when it concerns tackling one's opponent."

"Fine." He acquiesced with a grumble but secretly he was pleased he had some company and help.

Even if it was from a brat, who was surprisingly helpful. He could tell medicine did not really capture her interest and she flat out admitted the second day of their acquaintance that she was not fond of doctors and hospitals. It was more than that, if her cautious gaze in Medical was anything to go by but he decided not to push it.

She stayed with him until small night hours when it was mutually decided that he did in fact got all his facts and knick-knacks Jane insisted would be great to know for exam straight; and they parted ways once they reached the dorm buildings where they split to their assigned dorms.

Bones was pestered on several instances now by his fellow medical colleagues as to how he didn't sleep with her yet or if she was single. It annoyed him to no end but he would lie if he said she wasn't attractive. Sexy wasn't really the word that befit her, she was a beautiful young woman with laid back personality that made her extremely desirable and she was well aware of that. But as beautiful as he found her, he did not want her. That way. And he could tell she felt just the same about him. Age difference or no, they were more than comfortable being friends.

The door let him in his dorm quarters where he found his roommate already passed out, several PADDs haphazardly strewn over the desk. Someone it seemed had an interesting study night. As he stripped out of his cadet red, something in the corner of his eye caught his attention. On his nightstand was a box and folded paper over it.

He rolled his eyes amused because Jane was not a big fan of writing on paper. At least that is what she told him but he didn't buy it. He slipped into his PJs quickly and walked over to his bed and nightstand, picking up the folded paper. Jane's writing was elegant but to the point, nothing about it would tell you that the writer is a woman.

'I know you're gonna ace the test tomorrow but just in case, have a bite before it starts.'

With small frown on his face, he picked up heavier than anticipated box and opened it, discovering much to his surprise the ridiculously good chocolate from Vega colony they talked about last week. It was very popular, very delicious and that much expensive. But somehow she managed to get a box. Small smile appeared on his lips before he closed the box, out it back on the night stand and lay on the bed. He had the feeling he would pass that exam tomorrow.

* * *

By no means was it a warm day, after all, the peak was 10 degrees Celsius but it was winter so it was definitely above expected. It was the first day after winter break but not much was happening. The day was also a somber one as it was twenty five years to the date since the Kelvin tragedy. So now Leonard was walking the campus grounds, trying to figure out where Jane went.

They knew each other for three years now and most of people who knew them said they were best of friends. Something he never tried to deny. Two times now Jane would disappear on her birthday and reappear next day like the day past had no meaning and practically did not happen. He understood her, it was impossible sometimes to miss the whispers in the corridors about Jane and her father.

It was an open wound that Leonard wasn't sure it will ever close. Today however, he was determined to find her. If for no other reason, but the selfish one of putting his mind at ease that she was safe and not drinking herself into oblivion.

"Looking for something doctor McCoy?"

Leonard stopped in his steps and looked over his shoulder to see captain Pike approaching him on a leisure step. "Someone actually."

The man's aging blue eyes switched from cold professionalism to warm understanding. The man was somewhat an oddity, excellent Starfleet captain but with no family. Though there had been a rumor around that he was dating his former first officer.

It was not missed on Leonard that Pike had taken a shine to Jane; he was her academic advisor though he treated her more like his own daughter than it was probably appropriate when they interacted about everything, including her work at the Academy and her poor behavior which included some quite masterful pranks and bar fights she just couldn't stay out off.

"Well then, let me put you at ease. She is not drinking or looking for a bar fight."

"Really?"

"The USS Phoenix arrived at Starbase 1 just few hours ago. I'm fairly sure she's with her mother."

"Oh. That makes sense. Thank you for the information, sir."

"You're welcome doctor. Why don't you join me? I think we can both use some fresh air and not hearing George's name for good hour."

Two men fell into a casual step and silence as they walked out of the campus ground. "He was your friend, wasn't he?"

Pike chanced a small look at the good Georgian doctor sidewise before staring ahead again.

"Yes." He replied with a sigh. "A very dear friend."

Bones said nothing; it would be in bad taste to even poke further.

"There are days where I dearly miss his laughter and advice. She is much like him you know…"

"I'm fairly good with that notion, sir, seeing as there are some people at the Academy that simply delight in tormenting her with comparisons."

Pike frowned. "I know. Even though Barnett told them off, they just can't seem to control their tongues."

"Not that she lacks in reply though." Bones stated with a chuckle.

"True. Jane may have her mother's beauty and defiant fire but under all those layers she made to protect herself from the universe, she is just like George in some ways though very different in other. Her own person."

"Is that a good thing?"

Finally Pike laughed genuinely. "I think we have front row seats to finding that out."

"Oh joy."

"Cheer up doctor. I think we are her beginning. Or at least I am and you are tagging along for a ride."

"What makes you so sure?"

"Jane doesn't trust people easily. You know that. So what makes you think she would willingly got out there without you?"

Bones had no answer for that. He knew somehow, from the moment they met, that he was bound for hell ride and she would be the conductor. He just wasn't sure if he could take that.

* * *

"What are you so happy about?"

Jane inhaled deeply, her feet moving in automatic pattern whilst moving down the stairs from the hall. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"No, I don't suppose you do." In the last three years she had known Leonard McCoy whom she dubbed Bones, Jane concluded she rather liked his grumpy, sometimes very pessimistic attitude.

He didn't give a shit about her family name and always told her how things were without sugar coating it. Not to mention, that despite his negative attitude to some parts of life, he was absolute teddy bear with children.

"I'm taking the test again."

"You've got to be kidding me?" Bones sputtered, eyes widening with unbridled surprise.

"Yeah, tomorrow morning, I want you there."

"You know what, I've got better things to do than watch you embarrass yourself for the third time. I'm a doctor, Jane. I'm busy."

Jane twisted around and slightly got in his face. "Consider the two previous ones as scouting missions. I got it all figured out now."

"Really?" Bones looked at her dubiously, wondering if he should consider call her out on this obsession with the no-win scenario. "Yeah. So, be there."

"Fine. But don't expect me to stick around for pity party afterwards. I'm on shift."

Jane clapped him on the shoulder. "There won't be a pity party. And I've got to study."

"Study my ass." Bones muttered. "I'm game if you are!" She ran off laughing as he tried to shove her but ended up shaking his head before moving on to his next class. That woman sure was handful and he was only her best friend. He pitied the person who might someday get saddled up with Jane in marriage. That would be one hell of a ride.

"Well, that was…anticlimactic." Jane drawled after swallowing bite of apple she rather loudly chewed after the entire simulation froze. The simulation froze because it could not respond to Jane issuing a challenge to the Klingon captain. Really, just because two species didn't have friendly relations, it did not mean that one should be totally ignorant of their culture. Personally, Jane found some aspects of Klingon culture interesting. And their guttural language had been a challenge to learn, something Jane enjoyed tackling.

Everyone turned in their chairs, either staring at her or the frozen main screen, their faces varying expressions from resentment to giddiness. Bones looked at the command chair again but this time he was smiling as well. "Scouting missions, eh?"

"Told you." Jane sprang to her feet and looked up at the administration room, quite pleased to see utter disbelief on the faces of the instructors. "Well, gentlemen, this has been…interesting. Have fun coming up with something new." She finished with a flourishing salute before dragging her best friend out of the room. There was a lunch bet he needed to pay off.

"So where do you want to go?" Bones asked, walking past already gossiping cadets with Jane and mulling over what just happened in the simulation room.

"I was thinking Sonata, some meat and pasta would be good."

"Alright. So you were really studying when you said so?"

"My friend," Jane clapped his shoulder. "There is a time for serious work and time pleasure. Although admittedly I mix the two sometimes."

Bones snorted. "Sometimes."

"Don't be mean Bones."

"It's not mean if it's the truth."

Jane smiled and led the way off the Academy grounds to one of their favorite restaurants where they enjoyed slow lunchtime before Jane's communicator started beeping. "Kirk here."

"Captain Pike here. Report to my office in ten minutes." His voice was flat so it was difficult for Jane to tell the mood though she could guess why he wanted to see her.

"Uh, I'm off grounds. I'll be there in twenty."

"Make sure you do. Pike out."

"He doesn't sound too happy." She shrugged. "I don't care. He's the one who recruited me…so tough."

"Let's just go."

Twenty minutes later, more-less, Jane found herself sent into Pike's office. She had not even stepped fully in the office when she noticed the Vulcan instructor Uhura had hots for and was probably dating. She could definitely see what was there to like about the man, he was handsome and had certain presence like all Vulcans do not to mention the typical stoic expression. Nevertheless, for the brief moment she managed to see his warm brown eyes, there was great deal of irritated curiosity he did not manage to hide as expertly as he had probably hoped. "Sir."

"At ease Kirk. This is Commander Spock, my future first officer and creator of Kobayashi Maru program."

She simply looked sidewise and nodded. "Cadet."

"He wanted to meet the one person that beat the unbeatable. Congratulations by the way." Pike offered her a proud smile, something he reserved for special occasions she assumed.

"Thank you. Is there something in particular you wanted to discuss commander?"

"While you are to be congratulated on overcoming impossible odds, I must inquire as to whether you understood the purpose of the test."

Christopher Pike almost audibly groaned and flinched upon seeing Jane closing up and body going stiff as her eyes narrowed. "Do enlighten me commander." Her tone dripped with heavy sarcasm but Spock either did not identify it as such or ignored it.

"The purpose of the test is to experience fear. A captain cannot cheat death. The inevitable must be met with as much as skill and resolution as possible. When winning-"

"Whoa, whoa…Fear?" Jane's tone quickly elevated. "You cannot provoke real fear in a computer simulation where you can always hit reset button and start over again. Furthermore, commander, you are teaching future commanders that not trying to get out of the stickiest situation is completely acceptable. Have you taken the test?"

"As a Vulcan, I do not require additional training to control my narcissism when making command decisions."

"Commander!" Pike's voice was sharp and unyielding, anger clear in his eyes. "I agreed to let you meet cadet Kirk so you could have a productive discussion of her success on the test if wanted. I did not agree for you to…What are you even trying to do anyway?"

"I was simply trying to point out that cadet Kirk has failed to understand the purpose of the test captain. I apologize if I overstepped."

"I thought Vulcans did not get irritated." Jane quipped but was sharply silenced by Pike. "Kirk. Now-" He was interrupted by his office comm. signaling an incoming call.

Barnett's face popped up the moment screen came to life. "Admiral."

"Captain Pike. We have received a distress call from Vulcan and with our primary fleet engaged Laurentian system, the Enterprise will be launching ahead of schedule and lead the fleet group to Vulcan. All cadets have been ordered to report to hangar 1 immediately." The last bit was added when Barnett noticed Jane's reflection in the mirror.

"Understood sir." Pike closed the comm. looking at both Jane and Spock. "Go. I will meet you both on the bridge."

Spock did not need much more incentive to get moving but Jane stalled a bit. "Bridge?"

"Did you expect that you would end up anywhere else with your academic performance?"

"I do not have expectations. That way I don't disappoint myself."

One eyebrow arched. "I won't even ask. Hangar one, go."

"Yes sir." The entire hangar was an organized chaos by the time she arrived, everyone rushing to either make sure the equipment and shuttles were ready to go or to find out their assignment. She tracked down Bones in river of cadets listening to various squad leaders list off the names and assignments, trying to find theirs. "Blake – USS Newton…Burke – Starbase Three…Counter – USS Odyssey…Fugeman – Regula One…Gerace – USS Farragut…Korax – USS Wolcott…McCoy – USS Enterprise…" Jane's brow furrowed a bit, while they did find the right squad her name was not called. "Excuse me, you didn't call my name. Kirk, Jane T." She spoke the moment the lieutenant was free to talk.

"Kirk…USS Enterprise. The sudden deployment made the database stutter a bit."

"Uh-huh." Jane grabbed Bones's sleeve, already moving towards the right shuttle. "Jane, let go of my sleeve." Bones muttered when visibly annoyed Uhura cut through their path.

"Who pissed in her cheerios?"

"Let it go Jane."

"No. She's just too much fun to wind up." An alarm rang out through the hangar, warning everyone that departure was imminent and soon enough as they settled in their seats, the shuttles lifted off, navigated out of the hangar and to their destinations.

Between disembarking and going to the bridge, she managed to find the golden uniform to change into and make sure Bones was on his merry, grumbling way to the med bay. Once again, as she walked towards the turbolift that would take her to the bridge, her path was intersected by Uhura who looked pleased this time. "On your way to communications?"

"Yes. Bridge?"

"Yup."

"I hope this doesn't have anything to do with the Klingons."

That stopped Jane in her tracks and turned to face Uhura fully. "What Klingons?"

"I was in a long range sensor lab and I picked up an emergency transmission from Klingon prison planet."

"Rura Penthe."

"How-?" Uhura shook her head. "A Klingon armada was destroyed, forty seven ships. Apparently they were destroyed by one Romulan ship."

"Oookay…That sounds almost improbable but Klingons aren't exactly known for sending emergency or distress calls. I've got to get going though."

"Yeah, me too. Don't do something stupid Kirk."

Jane laughed as she stepped into the turbolift. "That depends on how you define stupid!" The shaft shut and the lift sped to its destination. The bridge was brand new and polished, much like the rest of the ship and a flurry of activity. She settled easily enough at the station on the starboard side of the helm and command chair, fingers automatically flying to check that everything was in order.

More than little curious as to the nature of their assignment and the information Uhura had given her not five minutes before, Jane barely paid attention when Pike appeared on the bridge with little speech and curt orders to depart as she mulled over the entire event. She snapped to attention later when they were already at warp and ensign Chekov was broadcasting to the ship the mission parameters. "We will arrive at Wulcan within fifteen minutes. Thank you for your time."

"Did you just say lighting storm?" Jane asked, completely disregarding the fact her tone pitched up and caught the attention of everyone on the bridge.

"Y-Yes Kirk."

"Kirk?" Pike' single word carried the whole question within in. "Does it not ring a bell to you sir?" Judging by the blank look he gave her, apparently not.

So much for the dissertation. "Oh for God's sake!" She turned back to the console and quickly searched the archive for the transmission log. "We need to stop this ship. Uhura report to the bridge at the double."

"Cadet Kirk," She did not let the Vulcan commander speak further as the main view screen lit up and audio began to roll.

 _'USS Kelvin, go for Starfleet base.'_

 _'Starfleet base. We sent you a transmission. Did you receive?'_

 _'Kelvin, have you double-checked those readings?'_

 _'Our gravitational sensors are going crazy here, you should see this. It looks like a lightning storm.'_

 _'What you sent us doesn't seem possible.'_

 _'Yes, ma'am. I understand. That's why we sent it.'_

"Now, I am not an astrophysicist but I can say that the odds of the same phenomena happening at the same spot twice are near impossible. The Romulan ship that emerged from the phenomena tore through Kelvin in a matter of seconds and last night it was reported that the entire Klingon armada near Rura Penthe was destroyed by one massive Romulan ship. We are warping into a trap, I promise you that."

There was nothing but strangled silence in the wake of her words. "The cadet's logic is sound." Commander Spock was first to speak, almost making her growl. "Although I am curious as to how you have obtained knowledge of the attack on the Klingon armada?"

"Sir, I intercepted and translated the message myself." Uhura made her presence on the bridge known, looking directly at Pike. "Kirk's report is accurate."

There was something indiscernible in Pike's look he gave Jane before sitting back down in his chair. "Shields up! Red alert!"

"Arrival at Vulcan in five seconds…four, three, two…" And all hell broke loose before their eyes. Later down the road, the sight that greeted the bridge crew would not leave their haunted minds for months to come.


	3. Chapter 3

The air was ice cold and sharp. One would say it bit on your skin. Jane has been through much worse though. It wasn't hard to climb out of the hole the pod melted in the ice. The drakoulias and hengrauggi was the hard part. Those animals were both predators and lot faster than humans. Jane somehow managed to escape them both and was chased into a cave where she had encountered someone very impossible.

Yet when the elder Spock showed her the explanation through the mind meld, it all made sense. And the sheer quantity and strength of the emotions she got from him almost knocked her to her knees.

"Going back in time, you changed all our lives."

"Jane…we must go. There is a Starfleet outpost not far from here."

"Wait. Where you came from…did I know my father?"

"Yes." Spock confirmed. "You often spoke of him as your inspiration for joining Starfleet. He proudly lived to see you become captain of the Enterprise."

"Captain?"

"A ship we must return you to as soon as possible." Jane shook her head but followed after the older Vulcan anyway.

Montgomery Scott, it appeared, was yet another person the elder Spock was familiar with and by the looks of things fond off. Jane could see why. The Scotsman may not have all the marbles straight but if his engineering experiment strewn across the floor was anything to go by; the man was a genius in his own right.

"You know, going back in time, changing history…" Jane spoke as they climbed on the transporter pads to be beamed to Enterprise. "That's cheating."

Spock nodded with fond smile. "Trick I learned from an _old friend_."

 _Did he now?_

"Live long…and prosper." Spock said, Jane and Scotty disappearing in a twirl of white light.

It was no fun to _break_ Spock. There was no joy in it. Just vast emptiness. It didn't take her to say much to make him snap. It was enough to mention his mother and he was done. She had seen what an enraged Klingon looks like. She had seen what enraged Andorian looks like. But nothing could have ever prepared her for an enraged Vulcan. Maybe because they looked so stoic and emotionally removed that even she, someone who knew better than to label Vulcans as emotionless robots, could not fathom to ever picture them as nothing else but that. Jane felt no pleasure in taking a seat in the captain's chair. Solely the instinctual duty she felt for Earth and Federation.

"I sure hope you know what you're doing…captain." Uhura spat as she came to stand next to the chair.

"To your station lieutenant." Jane growled out darkly before pressing the button for ship wide announcement to let the crew know they would be engaging Narada very soon.

"Keptin Kirk, keptin Kirk."

"Yes Chekov?"

"Based on zhe Narada's course from Vulcan, I have projected that Nero will travel past Saturn. Like you said, we need to stay invisible to Nero or he will destroy us. If Mister Scott can get us to warp factor four and if we drop out of warp behind one of Saturn's moons, say Titan…"

"Mhmm…"

"Then the magnetic distortion from the planet's rings will make us inwisible to Nero's sensors. From zhere as long as the drill is not actiwated we can beam aboard the enemy ship."

"Aye that might work." Scotty cut in, still drying his head with the towel. "Yeah, it's a stretch but it could." Sulu agreed.

Leonard however looked doubtful. "Now wait a goddamn minute! How are you kid?"

"Seventeen sir." Chekov stated proudly. "How old are you, Doctor?"

"Old enough to shave," McCoy shot back. "And when I shave, I'm only holding whiskers in my hand—not the fate of worlds."

"Bones, he's right." Jane cut it before potential escalation. "Doctor—Mister Chekov is correct."

Everyone on the bridge turned simultaneously toward the bridge's entrance where familiar but definitely far more collected and professional looking person stood. "If Mister Sulu can maneuver us into position according to the dictates expressed by Mister Chekov, and relying on Mister Scott's expertise in calculating transporter delimitations, I believe I can be beamed aboard Nero's ship, steal back the black hole device and if possible, bring back captain Pike."

Jane shook her head. "Yeah, that's too much of multitasking even for you Mr. Spock."

"Romulans and Vulcans share common ancestry. Our cultural similarities will make it easier for me to access the ship's computer to locate the device. Also, my mother was human. Which makes Earth the only home I have left."

"Then I'm coming with you."

"I would cite regulation but I know you would simply ignore it."

Smile stretched her lips. Who knew Vulcans could be sassy?

"See, we are getting to know each other." She clapped him on the shoulder on the way to the turbolift, not really giving him time to respond.

Jane was unable to suppress a grin when Sulu informed them that they were in position above Titan and were not detected. "Really?" Scotty sounded pleasantly surprised. "Fine job Mister Sulu, Mister Chekov. Well done."

"Mr. Sulu. If you think you have the tactical advantage, you fire on Narada even if we are still on board. You cripple her and it gives you a position to strong arm any potential negotiation in case we fail. That's an order."

"Yes, ma'am." Sulu's reply was somewhat hesitant but firm. "Otherwise we'll contact the Enterprise when we're ready to beam back."

"Good luck." Turning on her heel, she barely managed to restrain herself from stopping short and gaping like a crazy person when she saw Uhura and Spock embraced, whispering to each other. So it was more than having hots for the teacher.

"I will be back."

"You better be. I'll be monitoring your frequency."

"Thank you, Nyota."

Jane cleared her throat. "If you are done making doe eyes at each other, we should get going. We are on a tight schedule."

"Doe eyes?"

"I am certain Nyota will explain it to you when we return." Uhura glared at her without any real heat behind it. "Okey-dokey then. If there's any common sense in the design of the enemy ship, I should be putting you somewhere in the cargo bay. There shouldn't be a soul in sight.

"Energize."

Although Jane considered herself well versed in several martial arts, fighting against a Romulan is like punching a brick wall. In the end, she could acutely feel her bruised knuckles as she searched for Pike. And he looked even worse than she did.

"Captain, the enemy ship is losing power. Their shields are down, sir.

"Hail them now.

"Aye.

"This is Captain Jane T. Kirk of the USS Enterprise. Your ship is compromised. You're too close to the singularity to provide assistance, which we will provide.

"Captain, what are you doing?

"You show them compassion may be the only way to earn peace with Romulus. It's logic, Spock. Thought you'd like that." Jane replied as if it was obvious.

"No, not really. Not this time."

Even with his ship falling apart, Nero was glaring at them. "I would rather suffer the end of Romulus a thousand times. I would rather die in agony than accept assistance from you."

It took everything in her willpower not to shrug. "You got it. Arm phasers, fire everything we got."

"Yes, sir."

"Sulu, let's go home!"

For few seconds, she allowed the pessimistic thought about them being blown up to creep in her mind but once the explosion pushed the away, an honest, relieved smile danced on her lips and the way the bridge crew was giving her relieved smiles and nods, she could tell she earned all the approval she needed.

* * *

Once the adrenaline wore off, Jane had become keenly aware of the numerous injuries on and in her body. She was pretty sure three of her ribs were cracked and spleen was most definitely bruised. By no way was she a doctor but it would not be the first time she had these types of injuries. Closing her eyes for a moment to gather whatever energy she had left, she slowly rose to her feet and started walking towards the turbolift. "Mr. Spock, you have the conn."

"Captain?"

"I don't know about you commander, but I went through several rounds with Romulans and they are just as strong as Vulcans so my ribs are not exactly whole anymore. Plus, McCoy is going to kill me if I don't check in and I want to know how captain Pike is."

Though his face returned to its typical stoic expression, his eyes bore many questions and curiosity. She however was in no mood or shape to answer any of them. "Therefore you have the conn."

"Understood." The door slid shut and Jane let out a slow breath, her hand gripping the railing to keep herself upright.

She greeted people left and right with small, tight smile as she walked, cataloguing everything. The med bay was a functional chaos and definitely understaffed but for some reason, Jane suspected Bones's serious attitude to be the cause, there was no real crowd and everyone was tended to at leisured pace." Looking around, she approached the nearest nurse and asked for CMO's location.

"He's in the back in the intensive care unit checking on captain Pike." The nurse who identified herself as Christine Chapel replied, her eyes studying Jane's beaten up appearance closely. "If you need medical assistance for your numerous bruises and cuts, I can-"

"Thanks but I have a good number of allergies, including to most common sedatives and such so I'll just wait for doctor McCoy to come out. You got any place I can instead of standing in the middle of the med bay?"

Nurse Chapel shows her to a biobed that had been previously occupied by already discharged crewman and walks away to continue with her work. Jane somehow managed to get herself up on the bed and almost screamed when one of her ribs, for which she had previously thought were only slightly cracked, shifted and pressed into her lung. Immediately it became harder to breathe and she hoped Bones would come out soon.

With her eyes closed for couple of minutes, she failed to see the good old country doctor approaching but she did hear his heavy footsteps. "Good, I didn't need to drag you from the bridge." Bones muttered, hands immediately reaching for the tricorder. "Nice to see you too Bones. How's Pike?"

"Well, it was a bitch of a surgery, especially in half torn med bay but I managed to get some sort of parasite that was latched onto his brain stem. From all the tests we managed to do, it doesn't seem to have done great deal of damage but he will have temporary paralysis."

"For how long?"

"I can't answer that kid, it depends on his body's ability to recuperate and will. But from what I read in his medical file, he won't spend long confined to wheelchair. Something you two share." His eyes widened. "Good God woman, how are you still conscious?!"

"Adrenaline. I promise I came down as soon as it was possible to leave." The pain in the ribs flared again. "I think one of my ribs is poking at my lung."

"Two actually and your right lung is almost pierced. Lie down slowly, we'll take care of that first so I don't have to deal with a collapsed lung and internal bleeding as well. It's enough that half of your body is deeply bruised."

Somehow she managed to lie down without piercing her lung and without even realizing it really sailed off to dreamland before her friend even returned. "Reckless fool." Bones groused good naturedly upon finding his friend passed out on the biobed and set off to work on her injuries, shooting her with high dose of sedative along the way to make sure she would sleep for at least a full day.

He was quite confident that Spock could keep things running for a day and she would be no good to them for trip back if she collapsed from exhaustion. After making sure the various regenerators did their jobs, he attached nutrition IV to her and moved to his temporary office to get some shut eye. After everything that had happened, they all well deserved several hours of sleep to recuperate.

* * *

The distance between Earth and Saturn was only 8.54 astronomical units or 0.0001 light years. It was rather minute distance they had to cross. However, as only impulse engines were available and the primary fleet far away in the Laurentian system, it would take the battered Enterprise in total two and a half days to get back to Starbase 1 or 2.47 days according to Spock as he had informed her once she woke up from day long slumber thanks to the conniving old country doctor she had few not so pleasant words with.

Surprisingly Spock came to Bones's aid, pointing out that it was in poor behavior of a Starfleet officer to collapse from over exhaustion and untreated wounds. That is why she found herself cleaning up and changing uniforms in med bay with Bones and Spock waiting to give her the rest of the updates before she had to face the HQ after they were stalled by the latter, stating she was unconscious and recovering; and that he was operating at sufficient capacity to run the ship in the meantime. "How are we with food supply commander? And do the Vulcans we are transporting need anything besides food and peace?" It was the first thing she asked the moment she stepped out of Bones's temporary office.

"We have sufficient amount of food supply and lieutenant commander Scott has been successful in keeping the food synthesizers operating at nominal level. The Vulcan survivors do not require anything that has already been secured for them. I have however taken the liberty of reminding the crew on interaction with Vulcans."

"Good because I really do not need to sort out a social misunderstanding on top of everything else. I want you and lieutenant Uhura to work on casualty list for the Enterprise and see if you can clear few channels for Vulcans to use so they can communicate with couple of Vulcan colonies that do exist."

"Yes captain." Jane looked at her best friend. "Bones, you guys need anything here?"

"We can manage for another eighteen hours with the supplies we have Jane. Just make sure to tell that crazy Scottish engineer that we need the power here because I have few critical patients on life support."

"Alright. I'm going to my quarters where I expect to have a marathon discussion with Starfleet Command. And whenever that finishes, I'll make quick round to engineering to make sure Scotty is not experimenting too much and keeping the ship together. You two call me if you need anything and Bones, I want you to notify me when Pike wakes up again."

Both men replied 'understood' at the same time before the trio parted to go about their own duties. On the way to her quarters, Jane informed Uhura to call the command and tried to mentally steel herself for the unpleasant barrage of questions and insinuations she just knew would be thrown her way. While the first part was something she fully expected, the other part already irritated her immensely.

Nevertheless, she thought that doing this sooner rather than later would be beneficial for her nerves. Ordering coffee from the replicator, she sat down at the small desk and waited for the call to connect. The screen came alive a minute later, showing the relieved but tense face of admiral Richard Barnett. Internally she sighed in relief. At least it wasn't Marcus. That man gave her the creeps. "Captain Kirk, I am glad that you are finally conscious."

"Thank you sir. I'm afraid my rumble with the Romulans hand to hand broke my ribs. At the very least."

"Yes, doctor McCoy had already given us the full rundown of captain Pike and your injuries. Now, Commander Spock has already given us full report. If you are ready, we can begin."

"I am."

"Please start with the moment you realized that you were warping into a trap."

"Well…"

* * *

Her brain was tad bit fuzzy from the whiskey currently circulating in her body, courtesy of her ATT instructor commander Tinel, but her current condition suited her fine for the conversation she dreaded a bit for the last week and a half. That is how long it has been since the destruction of Vulcan, secondary fleet in its orbit and Narada's destruction near Saturn. In space of days they went from students to officers and back to students.

It was amazing how quickly people could bounce back from utter disaster to daily routines. The courses still had to be finished though little leeway was given to people being late with their assigned homework or skipping a simulation. There was not much time left until graduation, another month and that was it. The senior year was decimated and less than a quarter of the entire senior student body survived the entire event so the junior year that was less but still significantly affected would graduate with what was left of seniors. It was unbelievably happy yet tragically sad fact to take in.

Taking a left turn on the seventh floor corridor of Starfleet Medical, Jane came upon her best friend who had been working shift after shift since they returned with no regard for his free time really. He was one of the best doctors in Starfleet and flat out refused for someone else to treat Pike, even doctor Boyce was nicely sent away despite the fact the older doctor knew Pike longer. "Right on time kid. He's been awake for good four hours now."

"Is he finally lucid?"

"Yeah. This was expected though Jane, he had a parasite chewing on his brain stem. Admiral Barnett and few of the other bigwigs were here to talk to him so he won't shout too much. Just don't get his blood pressure too high; I'd like to flush out the sedatives from his system."

"Right." Jane sighed before slowly walking into Pike's room. The man was too still for her taste even if she had never seen him do something incredibly athletic, it was clear to her that he had been in perfect physical condition for a man of his age until week ago.

"Finally Kirk, I thought I would have to order you to come here."

Jane dragged a chair to sit close to his bedside. "You mean when you were lucid enough to do so." Pike shot her a weak smile before he got serious. "So…captain huh? I distinctly remember promoting you to first officer."

"If you're looking for an apology…"

He waved his hand dismissively. "I know better Jane. I can't really criticize you for saving billions of lives though your way of taking command from Spock is much to be desired. Not to mention the half dozen protocols you broke."

"Oh? And how exactly should I have proved he was emotionally compromised?" Jane bit her lip when she realized just how sharp her tone was but Pike had no real answer to her question. "Look, he and I already put that in the ground so leave it there, yeah? Besides, isn't my out of the box thinking what you recruited me for?"

Pike sighed. "You're such a pain in the ass."

"But you like me anyway."

"Have you been drinking?" He suddenly asked, catching the faint whiff of whiskey in the air. "It's barely noon and you have classes."

"I had ATT this morning and it was Tindal's idea to go for a drink instead of a class. Not that you can call Pamae and I a class."

"Jesus…" His eyes closed as her words sank in. "Yeah, it was indescribably depressing when two of us showed up so we spent last two hours drinking and barely saying a word."

"Jane."

"It's fine, death seems to be constant companion of mine so I've learnt to deal with it."

' _You shouldn't have had to learn to deal with it when you were a kid. That's what later years of life are for.'_ Pike shook his head and leaned back into bed. "McCoy says I'll be walking again in six or so months."

"Well, if he says so than it's true. He doesn't sugar coat things."

"No, he doesn't. The man has terrible bedside manner."

"He's not doing it to be liked."

"True. I was also told that the Enterprise will be ready to fly again in about two months if that engineer you found on Delta Vega is to be trusted."

"Oh he can be trusted when it comes to all things related to a ship. I think he's in love with the Enterprise." Jane chuckled a bit.

"Anyway, I wanted be the one to tell you this and you are not to share it with anyone until your graduation."

"Yees?" She drawled, curiosity dancing in her vivid blue eyes. "When Enterprise is ready to go again, you'll be commanding it.

One blink. Two. Three. Four. "I'm sorry what?" Jane rubbed her face. "I thought I only drank two glasses."

"You're not hearing wrong. Command cadets are in short supply and the entire disaster has us spread thin at the moment. And the command didn't really know how to award you besides giving you the Enterprise."

"I said I'll finish Academy in three years. Not jump from cadet to captain."

"No but then again how many cadets can you name that saved billions of lives on their first real mission?"

"It was a joint effort." Pike smiled widely this time. "And then there's you selling yourself short and shifting all the praise to others. Obviously you know how to value your crew and from what Spock and other seasoned officers reported, you handled command like you have been doing this for years. So it wasn't really difficult to agree with the board."

"You people are crazy."

"No more than you apparently. Now get going, I'm sure you have afternoon classes. And I suggest you start working on your crew roster and such. Paperwork is aplenty in captain's position."

"You are a devious man captain."

Pike snorted. "Get lost."

"Sir, yes sir."

* * *

"This assembly calls Captain Jane Tiberia Kirk." With practiced ease, the called person descended from her spot in the formation to the podium, unable to hide her smile.

It was the first time in a month and change that there was a genuine reason to do so. "Your inspirational valor and supreme dedication to your comrades is in keeping with the highest traditions of service, and to reflect utmost credit to yourself, your crew, and the Federation, it is my honor to award you with this commendation." She straightened up as he pinned the medal on her cadet red uniform. "By Starfleet Order two-eight four.. five..five, you are hereby directed to report to Admiral Pike, USS Enterprise, for duty as his relief."

There was barely any of the original color now admiral Pike had in his hair. The trauma turned it completely gray however in Jane's personal opinion, he wore it very well. "I relieve you, sir."

"I am relieved."

"Thank you, sir."

"Congratulations, Captain. Your father would be proud." The crowd erupted in cheers and applause second later as she turned to face them.

She drank in their faces, some or most of them would be her crew. Again. Though everyone looked genuinely happy, the bridge crew, except for absent Commander Spock; had various degrees of disbelief mixed with joy and Bones looked like he just wanted to send everyone to have their heads checked. She finally got the chance to speak to the doctor in person once everyone dispersed to go about their duties or homes. "Total insanity!"

"Thanks Bones, I feel all warm and tingly inside."

"Congratulations kid but seriously? Isn't this just a bit jumping the shark?"

Jane shrugged. "Look, I told them they were crazy but on the other hand, when I sat down in that chair it felt like I have done that million times before. Not really sure how to describe it."

"You drank anything?"

"No, my friend, I am surprisingly sober."

"I suppose I am tagging along on the tin bucket?"

"That is completely your decision." Jane replied. "But I do want the best and I am hoping most of the previous crew that graduated to return. No use in trying to fix what ain't broken." Just to make sure to get her message clear, her bottom lip stuck out and her eyes crinkled, giving the best 'lost puppy' expression.

"Damn it Jane!" Bones threw his hands up in the air. "That ain't fair."

"So long as it works, I won't refrain from using it."

"Infant."

"Grumpy teddy bear."

"Do you two need a room?" Both turned their head to the source of the voice, lieutenant Uhura. "It's not like that and you know it." Jane stated. "What can we do for you?"

"I just received this." She waved her personal PADD she apparently carried everywhere. "Did you time it?"

"I don't leave anything to chance. By the way, is that a 'yes'?"

Uhura smiled widely. "Of course it is. You've sent this to everyone who was on the Enterprise, didn't you?"

"Like I told Bones. If it ain't broken," Uhura finished for her. "No sense in fixing it."

"Yeah. The only one I'm not sure about is Spock though that is understandable, I guess."

"Yeah, he has a lot on his mind."

Jane immediately picked up on the uncertainty in the Uhura's tone. "Hey, you wanna grab some drinks? I'm buying."

"How long have you been waiting to ask me that one?"

"A long time."

Slight shake of the head. "Fine, since you're buying."


End file.
